Prison Phone Rates: The Ripoff Continues

Prison Lives is a non-profit organization established to educate and enable prisoners to be productive individuals.

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"Mama" Rita heard the phone ring. She excitedly picked it up, having waited all week to hear from her son. But her excitement quickly evaporated with the first words she heard.

"You have a collect call from the North Dakota State Penitentiary."

It wasn't for the fact that her son was calling from prison that made her wince. She had, unfortunately, long gotten used to that. Rather, her despair came over what she knew was coming next.

"Press '5’ to accept the charges for this call."

State Sen. Ed Kringstad, R-Bismarck, walks through the West Cell House of the North Dakota State Penitentiary, Oct. 12, 2005, in Bismarck, N.D. (AP Photo/Beth Eide)

Pressing the number 5 on her phone's keypad, Rita knew, would result in having to pay another chunk from this month's disability check. As a 62-year-old disabled widower, her budget was tight. She loved her son, and would always be there for him. In fact, she sincerely wished that she could talk to him much more often than just the one time each week they spoke now. But the harsh reality was that she just could not afford these calls, and was being forced to consider whether she would press '5’ now.

Unless you are calling from the darkest depths of Amazonia, where technology has yet to invade, the price of a phone call is no more of a thought than the air we breathe. The cost of a call from prison, however, can take your breath away. From the moment Rita chooses to accept her son's call, she knows that she will have to pay over $12 for that one call alone. If she wanted to talk to him every day, it would cost her over $360 per month—the price of a car payment, or in her case, exactly half of her disability check. It is not unheard of for families to pay over $1,000 a month on prison phone calls.

The price-gouging practices of the for-profit prison phone providers have been known, as have the millions of dollars in "commission" kickbacks that the prisons receive for utilizing them. A class-action lawsuit was filed against them 16 years ago by families of prisoners who were tired of being ripped off. The government took notice and has been working toward correcting the abuses ever since.

A dozen years later, in 2014, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took the first big step in regulation by capping out-of-state phone calls at 25 cents per minute. Prior to that point, loved ones of prisoners were forced to pay upwards of $30 for a 30-minute phone call from prison. While still pricey by free-world standards, it was a good start. However, the absurdly priced in-state calls remained untouched. Left unregulated, the price of a local 15-minute call can cost over $6.

The FCC has been trying to rectify this as well, last year announcing regulations that would cap in-state calling at a relatively reasonable 11 cents per minute. However, prison phone giants Securus and Global Tel*Link, as well as several state correction's officials, filed suit challenging the FCC's order.

"In my 16 years as a regulator, this is the clearest, most egregious case of market failure I have seen," stated Mignon Clyburn of the FCC, to the International Business Times on news that the prison phone providers were appealing reasonable regulations.

Some states have adjusted on their own, listening to the complaints of those with incarcerated loved ones. They have adopted practices that restricted or banned the kickbacks paid by phone providers and forcing more reasonable contracts. New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and others have managed to significantly reduce the cost of phone calls. A 15-minute call from a prisoner in West Virginia, for example, now costs less than 50 cents. The majority of states, however, are resisting reasonable change waiting to see what the court decides next.

Last month, in an effort to speed up relief to those affected by the high rates, as well as to moot some of the appeal's claims made by the phone providers, the FCC chose to appease providers with a slight increase in the regulated rate caps to 13 cents. But again, the phone giants rejected it. Earlier this month, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals again granted a stay.

A barbed wire fence surrounds the The East cell house, center, and the North Dakota State Penitentiary in Bismarck, N.D., Friday, Dec. 22, 2006. (AP Photo/Will Kincaid)

For now, there is no imminent relief for Mama Rita or the other hundreds of thousands of inmate families. There may be some in the not-too-distant future, though. Recognizing the absurdity, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has recently introduced legislation to permanently regulate phone rates. Further, utility commissions in Alabama and Louisiana have undertaken regulation of the industry in their states.

Until then, however, every phone call will continue to be a wincing hardship for most families of prisoners, one that unnecessarily adds further strains on the already difficult realities of having a loved one in a cage. In the meantime, prison phone providers, along with the correction's officials that continue to sign the costly phone contracts, are effectively being allowed to exploit all of those most affected by incarceration, essentially and callously extending the punishment to both sides of the prison wall.

Prison Lives (www.prisonlives.com) is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization established to educate and enable prisoners to be productive individuals while incarcerated for a positive existence both inside and outside of prison life.

Prison Lives provides prisoners and their families with access to information and resources specific to their circumstances through 500+ page publications, including prisoner resource guides, prisoner education guides and prisoner entertainment guides.